Due to the ever-increasing amount of data, companies are looking for new solutions to store information. Glass and holograms seem to be a promising data carrier.
Humanity’s digital traces go back almost a century. In addition to digitized video and image recordings, many museum archives also contain valuable documents and artifacts on a variety of data storage media. But systems used as standard, such as SSD or HDD hard drives, pose a problem because their service life is limited to around ten years.
Faces this challenge also the Imperial War Museum. It is planning a comprehensive digitization of its museum archives in 2039 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Second World War. With 24,000 hours of film and video recordings and eleven million photos, the task seems daunting.
However, digitization is necessary because the original copies deteriorate over time. Therefore, reliable storage systems are particularly important for the long-term backup of this valuable data.
Store data effectively: from LTO-9 tapes to glass and holograms
Not only museums, but also companies, hospitals and governments are facing an onslaught of data. According to an analysis by the Enterprise Strategy Group, data volumes in many industries double every four to five years. For long-term archiving, those affected often use so-called LTO tapes (Linear Tape Open).
These are inexpensive, reliable and can store large amounts of data. For example, one LTO-9 band can store 18 terabytes of data, which is equivalent to the storage volume of 300 standard smartphones.
The start-up HoloMem in Chiswick (West London) is already a step further. It is currently developing a long-term storage system that uses laser technology to create holograms in a light-sensitive polymer. HoloMem explains that holograms can store data in multiple layers.
This enables higher storage density. The polymer blocks are extremely temperature-resistant and have a service life of at least 50 years. In contrast, archives have to replace their magnetic tapes every 15 years and at the same time ensure the correct indoor climate.
Approaches could obtain data over the next centuries
Another important player is Microsoft with its Silica project. This system uses glass as a storage medium, with powerful lasers creating tiny structural changes in the glass to store data. A two-millimeter-thick piece of glass the size of a DVD can store over seven terabytes of data.
Glass is relatively resistant to temperature, humidity and electromagnetic influences and could potentially preserve data for centuries or even millennia. The Imperial War Museum is also experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) to catalog digital libraries.
Because AI could take on tasks that would take humans hundreds of years to complete. Such systems could also help find valuable information in large amounts of data. According to the company, there are now concrete business reasons to make archived data accessible for analysis, further increasing the importance of data storage.
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The article Flood of information: Will we soon be able to store data in glass and holograms? by Felix Baumann first appeared on BASIC thinking. Follow us too Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.